Top Washington Post editor Anne Kornblut leaves for Facebook

A Pulitizer Prize winning journalist is leaving one of the country's most prestigious newspapers for one of Silicon Valley's most powerful companies.

Anne Kornblut will step down as associate editor of the Washington Post to become the director of strategic communications at Facebook.

The Washington Post's national editor, Cameron Barr, announced Kornblut's departure in a staff memo on Tuesday, which was first reported by The Washingtonian.

"This is surely an old-media-blossoms-into-new-media moment," Barr wrote. "We can take heart that a colleague with such an accomplished background as a reporter and editor is joining the leadership of a social media company that serves as a conduit for news for an amazingly large audience."

Kornblut's move isn't the first time a prominent journalist has bolted the newsroom for the tech world. In April, Snapchat hired CNN political reporter Peter Hamby to help lead its news division.

And Facebook(FB) in particular has positioned itself as a leader in social media's foray into the news business. In May, the company launched Instant Articles, a platform that allows news organizations to publish articles directly onto Facebook.

Kornblut joined the Washington Post in 2007 to cover Hillary Clinton's first White House run, and eventually became an editor. She played a central role in the Post's coverage of the National Security Agency documents that were revealed by Edward Snowden, reporting that earned the newspaper a Pulitizer for public service in 2014.

Barr called Kornblut's shepherding of the Snowden revelations the "crowning achievement of her time" at the Washington Post.